Strand lacer for reels



STRAND LACER FOR REELS Filed April 28, 1949 JNVENTORS. 5 WILL/AM B. LOWE HARRY E. PAPE dywu Patented Dec. 8, 1953 STRAND LACER FOR REELS William B. Lowe, Springhaven, and Harry E.

Pape, Norwood, Pa., assignors to American Viscose Corporation, Wilmington, Dcl., a corporation of Delaware Application April 28, 1949, Serial N 0. 90,122

16 Claims.

This invention relates to reels of the type adapted to receive and advance a strand through a helical path over a peripheral surface thereof and particularly to the threading or lacing of such reels. The term strand includes yarns, threads, cords, monofilaments and continuous filamentary bundles of any type which may be passed over a thread-advancing reel.

Thread-advancing reels may be readily laced or threaded when the reels are exposed and/or supported at one end only and operated at the usual speed of strand travel of conventional rayon yarn manufacturing practice. However, considerable difficulty is encountered in lacing reels which are substantially enclosed by housings, treating tanks, etc., or when the reels are supported at both ends. The lacing problem is greatly aggravated by strand speeds which require the rotation of the thread-advancing means at peripheral rates ranging above 150 meters per minute. At such speeds, the thread or strand tend to be thrown away from the strand-supporting surface of the rolls by centrifugal force, and moreover, the strand is traveling so rapidly that it is physically impossible for an operator to either see or manually catch the advancing end or a specific portion of the strand and lead or guide it through a series of thread-storing thread-advancing reels or other thread-handling devices.

Consequently, a principal object of the invention is to provide means and a method for introducing the strand upon the rotating surface of the thread-advancing means. It is another object to facilitate the lacing of a strand over a series of rotating strand-advancing reels. Still another object is to provide means and a method particularly adapted for lacing thread-advancing means which are either enclosed or supported at both ends with respect to an axis of rotation. It is a further object to provide said lacing means by a simple modification of existing equipment. Other objects, features and advantages will become apparent from the following description of the invention and the drawings relating thereto in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic pictorial View illustrating apparatu as Well as a method of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the embodiment of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary pictorial view of a reel bar embodying the invention; I

Fig. 4 illustrates an element which may be fitted over the end of a reel bar of the type shown in Fig. 3 as a further modification Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic end view of two sets of alternately spaced reel bars illustrating the eccentricity of one set with respect to the other;

Fig. 6 is a. fragmentary longitudinal section illustrating a reel bar of modified construction in accordance with another embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 7 illustrates in partial section a simple portable device constructed according to the invention which may be used on single-end-supported reels in place of permanent fittings; and

Fig. 8 illustrates a modified shaft-engaging portion for the deviceshown in Fig. '7.

According totheinvention, a thread-advancing reel i simply and effectively laced singly or in series by diverting or leading a running thread into contact with one or more thread-gripping elements positioned along a peripheral marginal surface of the thread-advancing reel at one side of its thread carrying surfaces.

In Fig. 1 a thread-advancing reel 8 is shown with its thread-supporting surface 9 filled with thread and the thread I0 ready to be transferred to a, thread-advancing reel I2. According to this figure, a hook or pick M has been inserted under one of the most-advanced coils of the thread I0 and lifted from a peripherally disposed surface of the rotating reel 3 carrying the thread at the approximate area of departure for the thread from the reel 8. pick while supported thereby. The strand is subject or susceptible to considerable stretching and sufficient slack may be accumulated from the strand as it runs over the pick and while subjected by the pick to tension short of breakage to extend or carry the strand to the next thread-advancing reel 12.

The strand and hook I4 are illustrated in Fig. 1 in dotted outline in the position wherein the strand is inserted between a hook l6 and the surface of the reel I2 during rotation of the reel. The hook I 6, or hook l6a of the reel 8 is positioned or secured to any marginal portion of the surface of the reel l2 which is out of alignment with the normal line of departure of the thread vancing action of the reel'carrie the first-formed" I0 leaving the reel 8, so that a the reel [2 rotates to collect the strand which follows the portion caught by the hook l6 onto the reel surface, the advancing end of the strandis effectively folded under one or more convolutions of the strand wound on the reel immediately thereafter. The strand winds upon itself in this manner until normal operating alignment of the strand is established between the reels. The thread-adconvolutions off the hook and the marginal sur- The thread travels around the positioned to support and transfer the thread through predetermined thread-storage ranges (I. and b. The thread makes its initial contact with the reel l2 at the point I5 after normal operation is established. This point is determined by the point at which the thread l leaves the reel 8, both points lying in a plane at the right angles to the reel axes when these axes are parallel. The dotted line I8 indicate the path along which the thread is held or diverted when using the pick 14 to engage the hook l5. It may be readily seen, therefore, that as the thread is passed around the marginal portion 0 of the surface of the reel I2 outside of the range b that the threadadvancing action of the reel will quickly tend to transfer convolutions of thread formed on the marginal portion toward the thread-discharging end of the reel. Consequently, the normal path of the strand intersects the surface of the reel l 2 at one extremity. The reel are therefore selfcleaning with respect to the marginal portions of their surfaces used for lacing purposes; any tangles or snarls which are formed about the hook I6 are removed therefrom and laterally transferred to the opposite end of the reel by normal thread-advancing action.

Fig. 3 illustrates an end portion 20 of a threadsupporting element or bar of a type conventionally used in the construction of thread-advancing reel but adapted to the present invention. Such reels generally comprise two sets of these bars supported in alternately spaced arrangement (illustrated in Fig. of which one set moves relative to the other set to produce thread-advancement in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of the reel. of bars of the strand-receiving end of the reels may be provided with a roughened surface adapted to grip a thread which is brought into contact therewith during the lacing operation. Preferably, the ends of only one setoi. the bars are roughened although thread transfer is not precluded if the ends of both sets of bars are roughened. The bar 26 will ordinarily comprise a corrosion-proof material such as glass, a resinous material such as a phenol-formaldehyde product, a resin-bonded fabric laminate, stainless steel, or a metal coated with porcelain or glass.

A roughened surface such as the surface 22 indicated in Fig. 3 may be provided by grinding or sand-blasting the end of the bar, or by milling or otherwise removing a layer or portion from the thread-supporting side of the bar to provide a surface to which a separate strand-gripping element, 2| may be secured. As another expedient for securing a thread-gripping surface at the end of the bar, a sleeve or collar 24 may be pro-v vided such as shown in Fig. 4 adapted to fit over the end of the bar 20. In the latter case. the

element 24 is preferably made of -a. resilient ma.- terial suoh as a vulcanizable composition $0. 1-

The ends of one or both setsv A taim'ng a rubber or a rubber-like polymerizate, but various plastics or resins of a flexible nature will also be employed. The less resilient and flexible materials selected for this use must be molded with a greater degree of precision in order to tightly fit the ends of the bars 28.

When separate elements are attached to thread-advancing bars to provide thread-gripping surfaces, as shown or suggested in Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6, it may be desirable to avoid substantial protrusion of the surfaces of such elements beyond the longitudinal surfaces of the bars by recessing the portions of the bars supporting the elements as shown in Fig. 6 so as to partially or entirely compensate for the thickness ofthe sleeve 2411 or other thread-gripping element attached to the bar 20a. Such an expedient will be desirable, for example, where there is not adequate clearance between the adjacent bars, or other portions of the reel to accommodate the sleeves 24; generally it is desirable for efiicient thread-advancing action to have the threadgripping surface substantially flush with the remainder of the thread-supporting surface of the same bar. It is permissible, however, to have the surface portion which are adapted for thread-gripping raised with respect to the remainder of the thread-supporting surface of the same bar if all of the bars are provided with similarly raised portions within the circumferentially extending zone provided for thread lacing. It is not essential that all of these raised surfaces be of the thread-gripping type; for example, alternate surfaces in a circumferential direction may be rough while the ones between them or other bars are smooth. It will be understood that the proper relationship in the thread-supporting surfaces of the bars is established when the surfaces of all the bars within a common longitudinal zone of the reel irrespective of the set to which they belong are disposed at identical radii with respect to their respective axes of revolution.

The surface of any strand-gripping means provided in the marginal surface of a thread-advancing reel must be such as to permit lateral movement of the thread in response to the thread-advancing action of the reel. A sawtooth surface, such as that of the element 24, is satisfactory in this respect because it provides lateral ridges 26 along which the thread may slide during lateral advancement but which also grip the thread when the thread-supporting surfaces of the bars 2!! occupy a position radially outward with respect to that of surfaces in circumferential alignment of alternately spaced bars. In the event the thread-gripping surface provided has ridges or surfaces which are not parallel to the longitudinal surface of the bar 20 or has a granulated or irregularly abraded surface, the movement of the bar relative to the adjacent bars should be such as to permit disengagement of the bar with the strands extending across and supported by the surfaces of the adjacent bars.

The present invention as hereinbefore described refers to elements which are permanently mounted on the thread-advancing reels in the manner indicated. Fig. 7 illustrates a portable hand device which may be held against the end of a reel shaft to produce rotation of a member and which has a purpose similar to that accomplished by the permanently mounted strand-engaging hooks of the earlier described apparatus. The device 30 of Fig. 7 comprises a shaft 32 rotatably meter supported within an annular handle 33 by bearings 34 and 35. The outer races of said bearings are secured in position within the handle 33. The shaft 32 is cut to varying diameters to form the shoulders 32 and 39 which position the inner races of the bearings. An L-shaped arm 4! anchored at one end to a. collar 42 secured to the shaft by a set screw or other means, extends laterally from the shaft at a radius which maintains the extreme end of the arm at close clearance with an outer marginof the thread-supporting surface 43 of the reel M5.

The shaft 32 may be provided with an adapter of any type, which may be brought into engagement with a portion of the reel at reasonable pressure exerted manually, to connect the shafts 32 and 50 in driving relationship without any loss of rotative speed therebetween. In Fig. 7, an adapter 48 is appropriately recessed so that it may be jammed onto a nut 49 in threaded relationship with the rotating reel shaft 5% The adapter comprises an outer shell and a cup 52 contained therein which is preferably formed from a resilient material. The cup has an inner surface tapered with respect to the shaft axis so that the cup may be more readily jammed into non-rotatable relationship with the nut 45 even though the reel is rotating at several hundred revolutions per minute. The interior surface of the adapter may be frusto-pyrarnidal or frusto-conioal. As an alternative arrangement for securing non-rotatable relationship between the reel shaft 56 and the shaft 32, an adapter 36a, illustrated in Fig. 8, may be mounted in place of the adapter 48 of Fig. 7, and the device brought into engagement with a shaft 59a having an end portion suitably recessed to receive the adapter. The cooperating surfaces of either, or both, the adapter 39a or the recess 54 may be roughened, grooved, or ridged to obtain positive engagement therebetween.

. .The device 30 is particularly useful when lacing reels which are supported at one end only regardless of whether the strand is advanced away from or toward the supported end. In using this type of device, the operator may hold it into engagement with the reel with one hand while lifting a strand by means such as the pick it from an adjacent reel with the other hand. The thread is then led into the clearance 55 which defines the space between the surface of the reel and the path of revolution swept by the arm 4|. The strand is promptly picked up by the arm 6! which holds the caught portion of the strand in fixed relationship with the adjacent portion of the reel surface; in this manner the strand feeds onto the reel surface. When the strand-receiving portion of the reel surface is nearest the unsupported end of the reel, the convolutions of strand immediately formed are wound over each other until, as a result of the thread-advancing action of the reel, the convolutions formed along the lacing area of the reel are carried into the normal thread-supporting surface of the reel. The portion of the strand caughtupon the arm M is pulled oif the arm and carried laterally'toward the other end of the reel. When the strand-receiving portion of the reel surface is nearest the supported end of the reel, the strand may be first guided or led upon the strand-discharging portion of the strand-supporting surface. The strand passing onto the reel from an exterior source quickly aligns itself with the normal strand-receiving portion of the reel within a conple of revolutions of the reel. The portion of the strand attached to the arm 4 i having been wound about the strand-discharging surface of the reel, is advanced off the end of the reel and the de- .vice 30 is thereupon readily disengaged from thestrand.

While preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

We claim: 7

1. In. combination with a thread-advancing reel having an axis of rotation and strand-supporting surfaces, said surfaces comprising a zone extending around the reel for supporting and advancing a strand lengthwise of the reel during its normal operation and another zone extending around the reel immediately adjacent the firstnamed zone for receiving the strand prior to lacing the first-named zone; means constructed and arranged for rotation with the reel, said means having a projecting surface extending into radial alignment with respect to said axis with the second-named zone for catching a strand led into substantially tangential relationship with j the second-named zone.

. 2. In combination with a thread-advancing reel having an axis of rotation and strand-supporting surfaces, said surfaces comprising a zone extending around the, reel for supporting a strand during normal operation and another zone extending around the reel immediately adjacent the end of the first-named zone from which the strand normally advances longitudinally of the reel toward the other end of said zone, and means connected with the reel for rotation therewith and having a projecting surface extending into radial alignment with respect to said axis with the second-named zone for catching a strand led into substantially tangential relationship with the second-named zone.

3. In combination with a thread-advancing reel having an axis of rotation and strand-supporting surfaces spaced circumferentially along the periphery thereof and extending in their lengthwise direction lengthwise of the reel, said surfaces comprising a zone extending around the reel for supporting a strand during normal operation and another zone extending around the reel immediately adjacent the first-named zone for receiving the strand prior to lacing the lastnamed zone, means connected with the reel for rotation and having a projecting surface extending into radial alignment with respect to said axis with the second-named zone for catching a strand led into substantially tangential relationship with the second-named zone.

4. In combination with a thread-advancing reel having an axis of rotation and strand-supporting surfaces, said surfaces comprising a zone extending around the reel for supporting and advancing a strand lengthwise of the reel during normal operation and another zone extending around the reel immediately adjacent the first-named zone, and means connected with the reel for rotation therewith and having a surface extending in a direction toward the first-named zone into closely-adjacent outwardly radially-spaced relationship with the second-named zone for catching a strand led into substantially tangential relationship with the second-named zone.

5. In combination with a thread-advancing reel having strand-supporting surfaces for advancing the strand lengthwise of the reel spaced circumferentially along the periphery thereof and extending in a lengthwise direction generally lengthstrand during normal operation and another zone.

extending around the reel adjacent the end of the first-named zone from which, the strand is advanced toward its other end, and means connected withthe reel for rotation therewith and having a surface extending in a direction toward the first-named zone into closely-adjacent outwardly radially-spaced relationship with the second-named zone for catching a strand led into substantially tangential relationship with the second-named zone.

6. In combination with a thread-advancing reel having strand-supporting surfaces, said surfaces comprising a zone extending around the reel for supporting and advancing a strand during normal operation and another zone extending around thev reel adjacent the first-named zone for receiving the strand prior to lacing the first-named zone, and means fixed to the reel extending in a direction toward the first-named zone into closely-adjacent radially-spaced relationship with the second-named zone for catching a strand led into substantially tangential relationship with the second-named zone.

7. In combination with a thread-advancing reel having strand-advancing surfaces, said surfaces comprising a zone extending around the reel for supporting and advancing a strand during normal operation and another zone extending around the reel adjacent the first-named zone for receiving the strand prior to lacing the firstnamed zone, and a rough uneven surface supportedwithin the second-named zone for catching a strand led into substantially tangential relationship with the second-named zone.

8. In combination with a single-end supported thread-advancing reel having an axis of rotation and strand-advancing surfaces, said surfaces comprising a zone extending around the reel for supporting and advancing a strand during normal operation and another zone extending around the reel adjacent the first-named zone for receiving the strand prior to lacing the first-named zone, and rotatable means adapted to frictionally engage an end surface of the reel to connect the means in substantially coaxial relationship, said means having a portion extending in closelyadjacent radially-spaced relationship with the second-named zone for catching a strand led into substantially tangential relationship with the second-named zone.

9. A device for lacing a running strand to the strand-supporting surface of a single-end-supported thread-advancing reel, a handle, a shaft rotatably secured to the handle, a surface contiguous with an end of the shaft forengaging an end surface of the reel without loss of rotative speed therebetween and for maintaining the axes of the shaft and the reel in substantial alignmentand an arm for catching a strand led into proximity with the strand-supporting surface, the arm being fixed to the shaft and extending during operation of the device into a position overhan ing. an edge of the strand-supporting surface at. its strand-receiving end.

10, In combination, a. thread-advancing reel comprising two sets of alternately spaced bars of which one. set may move with relation to the other set to advance convolutions of strand in helical arrangement supported on radially outwardly-facing surfaces of the bars. in a direction substantially parallel to an axis of rotation of the reel, said surfaces being divided into a lacing. zone and a zone for supporting the strand during normal operation having a strand-receiving, end adjacent the lacing zone and a strand-discharging end; and means connected with the reel for rotation therewith and having a projecting surface extending into radial alignment with respect to said axis with the lacing zone for catching a strand led into substantially tangential relationship with the lacing zone.

. 11. The combination defined in claim 10 wherein said means comprises a hook connected to a portion of the reel and then extending in a direction parallel to said axis toward the second named zone to occupy a position over-hanging a portion of the lacing zone.

12. The combination asdefined in claim .10 wherein said means comprises a rough radially outwardly-facing surface on the portion of at least one bar which extends into the lacing region.

13. The combination as defined in claim 12 wherein the rough surface is ridged.

14. The combination as defined in claim 12 wherein the rough surface is of saw-tooth contour with the ridges thereof extending generally in the direction of threadadvancement.

15. The combination as defined in claim 10 wherein said means comprises a plate-like meme her having a surface adapted for strand-gripping and another surface of a contour complementary to a surface of one of the bars to which the member is secured, and said bar having a surface for supporting the member in the lacing zone which is recessed in accordance with the thickness of the member.

16. The combination as defined in claim 10 wherein said means comprises a sleeve having a portion of its exterior surface roughened to effect thread-gripping, and said sleeve extending in close-fitting relationship about a portion of at least one of the bars within the lacing zone.

WILLIAM B. LOWE. HARRY E. PAPE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

